Prologue
It's 1994 on the 27th of June, in Al Wasta, Egypt. For the first time as Aaron's hands ran through his dark curly hair, his fingertips were not covered in blood.
Expecting to feel anguish and pain stabbing his back, he confusingly wondered why it didn't happen.
Strange. This has never happened before.
He stood up from the bed and entered the bathroom across the room, and looked at himself in the mirror.
There was no sign of a new scar on his face or skin. He looked normal, and perfectly well. After changing into comfortable clothes, with a broad smile on his bronzed face, he trotted down the stairs and jumped into the breakfast room.
"I was going to wake you up," said his mother Ms.Rashida. She put a plate full of slices of bread on a round table. "Breakfast is ready. You must hurry, we'll be late for church."
Aarons' parents were in their early eighties. Rashida gave birth to him when she was fifty years old, and they called him a miracle child for he was the happiness of their old age.
Rashida has had ten miscarriages. He was the lucky one that survived and became their only son. Their Son of consolation.
As Aaron was about to sit down, Rashida looked up and stopped him with a wrinkled hand. She raised her brows chri9o"You look happier than the other days, Aaron. Should I find that a problem?"
"No, Ma," he said as he sat down "You should find it good news."
His father, Yaakov, came down in his brown suit. The sun seeping through the windows brightened his bald head. "Good morning," he greeted warmly taking his seat opposite his son.
"It's my birthday today," Aaron said in excitement, grabbing a slice of bread.
"Oh, we had forgotten," said Rashida, feeling guilty. She took her seat next to her husband. Then she grew white. "Your birthday?"
Aaron nodded with a grin, grabbing a kettle of water, pouring it into his cup.
"Happy birthday, Aaron. That's what matters. You made it throughout the rest of the years, and now you're 19..." The old man creased his brows in bewilderment.
"I'm 21, Pa."
"Oh, 21? you've grown so fast. It feels like you were twelve just yesterday."
Aaron sighed, dipping his bread into the tea and took a bite.
"Aaron, what has happened?" Rashida asked in concern. "Are you sure you're okay?"
The young man nodded, his brows narrowing in hesitation. "Yes, Ma. I feel perfectly fine, and it's strange. I woke up with no pain, and I didn't get the beatings. No agonizing scars, or burnt skin. I feel perfectly fine."
Yaakov took a sip from his coffee. "God then answered our prayers. Your mom and I prayed for the torture to stop. Now that you're 21, we believe they'll be no pain."
"Looks like it has lessened," Rashida pressed on. "There were no screams from you. It's a good start, don't you think?"
Yaakov squeezed his wife's hand and assured her to not say another word about it again.
Aaron smiled warmly and continued to eat his breakfast, and got ready for the service.
The chapel was a congregation of more than five hundred people. Aaron sat in front of the altar, while his parents sat on his side.
Priest Yonatan was on the pulpit preaching his sermons to the people. "Surely the Lord will pour his spirit in the last days, sons and daughters shall prophesy, old men, shall dream dreams, and young men shall see visions," the Priest stated, "For the day of the Lord is coming, a day of darkness, and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness as the morning clouds spread over the mountains."
Aaron grinned, his legs trembling in joy when a whip with heavy thongs caught the back of his head, and he fell forward to the ground.
Everyone in the church was awed, and the priest stopped midway through his sermons as he watched the young man on the floor. Before anyone could run up to him and ask if he was okay, another strapped whip hit him on the back, and ripped the flesh of his skin.
Aaron screamed in terror, feeling his lungs burst and feeling the stripes on his back stripping open. The entire congregation were moved in shock and fear as they watched blood seep through his shirt, and slashes to his back.
All his parents did was watch.
